Path 2

Path 2

‘Coffee Date’

February 6, 2007

This terrifically winning mistaken (gay) identity comedy gets unlimited mileage from the notion that straight people have supplanted their “gay panic” with equally ridiculous gay pride. When his annoying brother sets him up on a blind date with a gay man as a prank, Todd (Jonathan Bray) is more bemused than pissed. It turns out that he and Kelly (Wilson Cruz) share an interest in foreign films, and they begin an unexpected friendship that Todd’s circle seizes on as evidence that he’s gay. Overnight, his mundane life turns surreal, thanks to an absurdly understanding mother (Sally Kirkland) and a co-worker (Deborah Gibson—yes, that Debbie Gibson) who suddenly finds him hot. Writer-director Stewart Wade has gracefully expanded his short film, a festival fave, into a warmhearted tale carried by genuine affection and a charming cast rather than cutting one-liners and turbo-charged plotting.